Elisabeth Murdoch has made clear she has no interest in becoming director general of the BBC, after bookmakers made her the favourite for the role following a string of speculative stories.
Murdoch, the daughter of Rupert and a successful media entrepreneur in her own right, was said to be the “surprise contender to become the BBC’s new director general” in an article in the i newspaper, which claimed the appointment would fit with Downing Street’s intentions for the role.
The report was followed up around the world and odds of 1/2 were being offered on her appointment despite the enormous cultural issues that would be involved in hiring the wealthy offspring of one of the BBC’s most fervent critics to save the organisation.
Sources close to Murdoch told the Guardian she had no interest at all in the job and was focusing on the launch of a production company, Sister, in addition to her Freelands Foundation charity and a role with Arts Council England. She previously founded and built up the successful independent production company Shine.
On Monday the BBC formally opened the application process for the role. A recruitment firm has been employed to find a candidate who can steer the corporation through a tricky licence fee negotiation with a government that has made clear it would like to reduce the scale and funding of the corporation.
Potential internal candidates include the BBC Studios boss, Tim Davie, the director of content, Charlotte Moore, and the BBC News editorial director, Kamal Ahmed.
The latter emailed staff on Tuesday saying he would no longer be accepting payment for a speaking at an investment company’s conference and apologising for his initial decision.
The Mail on Sunday reported that he had agreed to be paid around £12,000 for appearing as a guest on a 40-minute panel at the Aberdeen Standard “Investing for the Future” conference last week.
The decision to take the speaking gig angered staff in the news department as Ahmed, who is paid more than £200,000, was part of the team that announced 450 job losses this month. Staff printed off copies of the story and posted them in the newsroom.
Ahmed said he was invited in his capacity as a former economics editor. “I realise now that I did not think things through sufficiently at the time of the booking and, although I did not break any of the BBC’s guidelines on external speaking, it was a mistake to agree to a fee. I wanted to say sorry that a mistake made by me has become a public and internal issue,” he said.
It is not against the BBC’s rules for senior management to accept external paid speaking gigs, and a spokesperson confirmed that no rules had been broken, but they do not traditionally take such bookings because of the perception that it could create a conflict of interest.